Sunbasket Promises Healthy, Fresh, Veggie-Forward Meals—Does It Deliver?

If only we could all live next door to a vibrant farm stand chock full of sun-kissed produce. Unfortunately for most of us, finding fresh, flavorful fruits and veggies is more of a scavenger hunt, especially in the depths of winter. Sunbasket aims to solve for this issue by delivering a box full of organic produce—and the recipes for cooking them up—to your doorstep every week.

I’ll level with you: These days there’s a seemingly infinite number of meal kit delivery services that purport to provide “easy to make,” “healthy” meals with “clean” ingredients. Each one claims to help you get a delicious and nutritious meal on the table in less time with less hassle. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of testing meal kits, it’s that not all of these services match their own hype.

With that in mind, I tested Sunbasket for three weeks to figure out if it was worth the premium you inevitably pay for the convenience these services provide. Read on for my full Sunbasket review, or head to our full list of the best meal delivery services , including Home Chef, Green Chef, and HelloFresh.

Like most meal delivery services, Sunbasket’s ordering process starts by having you make a few choices. You’ll select which dietary preferences apply to you (Sunbasket has options for Carb-Conscious, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Mediterranean, Diabetes-Friendly, Paleo, or Keto-Friendly), how many servings you want per meal (two or four), and how many dinners you want each week (three, four, or five).

After entering your delivery and payment information, Sunbasket will automatically select meals for you based on your preferences. But if you don’t like what they pick, you can opt to choose for yourself from a menu of 18 options. Prices for the traditional meal kits can range from $9.99 to upwards of $30 for the more premium “Chef’s Table” offerings, with the majority landing in the $13–$16 range. Unlike some other meal delivery services, those prices don’t shift based on how many servings you’re ordering. You’ll need to hit a $45 order minimum for each box, which can typically be accomplished by ordering at least two two-person meals.

Regardless of how many servings and meals you selected at the start of the ordering process, you’ll be able to add or subtract meals and servings as you please (so long as you hit the order minimum). Meals are available in servings ranging from two to 16 servings.

You can edit your meal selections via the website or app until the weekly cutoff, which was 3 p.m. the Wednesday prior to my week of meals for me.

Each of my Sunbasket orders arrived on time, in an insulated cardboard box with ice packs at the bottom. Everything was neatly packaged into separate paper bags by meal, with any meat at the bottom of the package directly under the ice pack. This made it super easy to stash the ingredients in my fridge and pull out everything I needed for each meal when I was ready to cook.

As is the case with most meal kits, there was a decent amount of plastic packaging, but I appreciated that individual produce items like peppers and limes were packed loose. Premade sauces and the like were packaged in plastic jars that I now reuse for salad dressings and snacks I pack for the office.

Alaina Chou

Sunbasket meals are made up of a combination of fresh (usually organic) produce, pantry ingredients and/or seasonings, proteins, and often a premade element (think sauces, simmer bases, or compound butters). Produce tends not to come pre-prepped.

Sunbasket reserves the right to replace ingredients depending on availability and quality on the given week, which did happen in my first order. The organic butternut squash in my recipe was subbed for nonorganic, and lemon confit was swapped in for lemongrass paste. Neither of these changes affected the recipes in a material way, but if you’re someone who’s choosing Sunbasket because it sends organic ingredients, note that they only guarantee to do so 98% of the time, i.e., usually, but not always.

The only ingredients you’ll need to provide yourself are salt, pepper, and oil, which you’ll need for most recipes.

Organic produce and “healthy,” “clean” ingredient claims aside, what really struck me about Sunbasket at first glance was its wide range of enticing menu options. Whether or not this is a fair assessment these days is up for debate, but in my mind meal kit recipes tend to get a bad rap for being, well, boring. Not the case with Sunbasket’s offerings, which span a broad range of cuisines and dish types. Looking at the menu for next week as I’m writing this, I see intriguing options like Dukkah Pork Chops and Kale Salad with "Everything" Ranch Dressing, North Indian Aloo Gobi with Potatoes and Cauliflower Over Basmati Rice, and Malaysian Stir-Fried Hawker Noodles with Carrots and Zucchini.

I thought the ordering interface itself was easy to use, and I especially liked that I could click into each recipe to see all of the steps before committing. Sunbasket even outlines which steps would be good for kids to help with—a feature busy parents with curious, budding cooks might appreciate. I also liked that I could filter recipes by dietary restriction (i.e. Paleo, Gluten-Free, etc.), nutrition (i.e. High Protein, Low Added Sugar, etc.), excluded ingredients (dairy-free, soy-free, etc.), and cook time. Many recipes allow you to select your choice of protein, which broadens their appeal if you have family members who have an aversion to, say, seafood.

As for the meals themselves? There was a lot to like overall. The included recipe cards were straightforward and well laid-out, and the portion sizes were more than enough for my own appetite in most cases, though this varied slightly by meal. Each meal I cooked was tasty, and while I wouldn’t say anything was better than my own usual home cooking, testing this service got me cooking dishes and using specific ingredients that weren’t previously in my repertoire. The meals were also pretty produce-heavy, which I appreciated.

There were a few standouts from my three weeks of testing: I started out strong with a Chicken Pozole Verde with Tomatillos and Green Chiles that felt nourishing and warming while still being light—and was easy (and fast) to make thanks to a premade tomatillo simmer sauce. The Red Lentil and Chickpea Dal with Butternut Squash was also delicious, though I felt the need to bulk it up with some rice to better scoop it with the included whole wheat pitas.

The Green Beans Almondine and Zucchini with Your Choice of Protein (I went with pork chops) felt a bit all over the place flavor wise thanks to a combination of balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast “parmesan,” and green goddess dressing. I’d call it an eclectic assemblage, but it made for a perfectly passable weeknight dinner.

The one dish I tried from the more premium “Chef’s Table” line was the Sea Scallops with Roasted Sunchokes and Caper-Raisin Tapenade. It was delicious and definitely felt like a tier up from the other meals I tried. But at $31.99 per serving, it just didn’t feel worth it—I’d rather have ordered an entree at my favorite neighborhood restaurant.

Sunbasket offers a plethora of ways to filter down your meal options, including the option to exclude recipes that contain certain ingredients. That said, it would’ve been helpful to have pre-set filter toggles for dairy-free and plant-based meals.

While all of the meals I made were good, none of them were mind-blowing (which, to be fair, might be too much to ask of a meal delivery service). In general, I found that recipes took a tad longer than the stated time to make, but this usually only meant an extra 5–15 minutes.

The ingredient substitutions and non-organic swaps didn’t really bother me, but if the mostly-organic promise of this meal kit is the reason you chose this brand, it’s something to be aware of—especially given you’re paying the same price regardless of any non-organic subs.

There was a fair amount of packaging involved in each order, though not as much as I’ve seen with some other meal kits (I’m thinking of ones like Blue Apron , where nearly everything is tucked into its own plastic bag). That said, everything is compostable, recyclable, or reusable.

On the whole, Sunbasket meals tend to have a lot going on. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing—hey, it keeps them from being boring!—but it’s worth noting that you may be tasked with making multiple components, shifting between cooking proteins, chopping veggies, prepping garnishes, etc. For people who like to cook and have some basic experience, this shouldn’t be a problem. But if you’re a beginner in the kitchen—well, you’ve been warned.

In addition to their traditional meal kits, Sunbasket also has a number of single-serving Fresh and Ready meals and “market” offerings that you can add to your order. The one prepared meal I tried was the Chicken and Gnocchi "Dumplings" with Seasoned Vegetables, which quite honestly reminded me of sad, bland airplane food in a paper container (which got soggy after its trip to the microwave). I’d suggest sticking to the full meal kits.

The market offerings, however, could definitely be worth your while. They range from packaged goods like Mush overnight oats and La Colombe canned lattes to protein options, like a seasoned sous vide half chicken that I currently have waiting in my freezer for whenever I need a dinner shortcut.

Overall, I thought Sunbasket was an above average meal kit that I enjoyed cooking with. While it’ll likely cost more than your average grocery run, it’s comparably priced to other meal delivery services of a similar quality. Thanks to the variety of dish and cuisine offerings, I felt like it got me cooking outside my comfort zone—and while the meals I made didn’t necessarily wow me, there were tidbits from several that may inspire my future cooking (I’m looking at you, caper-raisin tapenade).

The bottom line? If you’re intrigued by the menu offerings and looking to get out of your weeknight cooking rut (all while avoiding the grocery store), give it a try.

Related:

• The 6 Best Meal Delivery Services for Families
• The Cheapest Meal Delivery Services That Are Actually Worth Ordering
• I’ve Tried a Lot of Meal Kits, and Hungryroot Might Just Be the Best